State Releases Controversial School Grades

Schools across Utah for the first time have been issued a single letter grade for their performance. According to the results of a new school grading system, released this morning, more than half of the state’s public schools got an A or a B, while the rest got C’s D’s or F’s. The education community responded this morning by calling the new system poor policy. But lawmakers contend it shines a light on poor-performing public schools.

In Utah 11 percent of public schools got an A this year, 45 percent got a B, 30 percent got a C, 10 percent got a D and 4 percent of Utah schools got an F. A map posted here shows a correlation between higher performing schools and areas that draw residents with high incomes.

GOP Senator Steve Urquhart says the new system is an opportunity for schools in less affluent areas to get the attention they need.

“Active parents, they squawk, and by squawking and being powerful they typically get what they want," Urquhart says. "So that means that the more affluent schools get the better administrators and the better teachers by and large. And the one’s that aren’t as gifted, they get shuttled around until they hit a school where the parents don’t complain as much or aren’t as powerful to make changes.”

But that’s not how Salt Lake City superintendent Dr. McKell Withers would characterize the new data. Speaking on behalf of school superintendents in Utah, Withers says no single letter grade can accurately portray the complex issues surrounding individual schools.

“Our teachers understand that good data is critical for their success," Withers says. "But when data is misused to criticize their work, what do you have? You don’t have a system that helps kids, nor does it attract great teachers to the profession.”

A number of education groups oppose the new system born out of Senate Bill 271. The legislation narrowly passed the 2013 legislative session.

School grades are based on a combination of student growth and student performance on criterion-referenced tests or CRT’s in language arts, math and science given in the spring of each year. High schools are also judged on graduation rates. Schools that didn’t have enough non-proficient students take the CRT’s were given a grade of F regardless of student performance or growth.

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The Utah State Office of Education released the letter grade evaluations of Utah Schools today. The grades are based on a combination of student growth and student performance on state testing in language arts, math, and science. The State Office of Education also graded high schools with the additional metric of graduation rates. If a school failed to test at least 95% of their students they automatically received an F grade. That's what happened for schools like Viewmont High School in the Davis School District.

On Tuesday, schools in Utah will be getting evaluation grades A through F to indicate how well their students are performing. Many in the education community say it will be giving parents the wrong impression about some schools. But Utah Senate President Wayne Niederhauser says it will make assessing schools more accurate and transparent.

Critics say the new letter grading system for school performance that was passed into law earlier this year is so narrow in its calculations that it will appear as though schools are doing worse than they are.

Next month, schools in Utah will get two sets of report cards outlining their performance for the last year. One report is based on Utah’s Comprehensive Accountability System or UCAS, which is a grading method the State Office of Education is already using. The other system, state lawmakers approved during the 2013 legislative session.

With the new system, schools are given a letter grade of A through F to indicate their overall performance for the last school year. With UCAS, each school is graded on a 600 point scale.